Murakami POV
It had been exactly two weeks since I started poisoning myself.
Every morning, Daichi served breakfast prepared with my exotic high grade meat while Aiko handled the poison mixture into the food.
Three days into the treatment, I had resumed my body tempering training. I couldn't afford to neglect my body just because I was focused on building poison resistance.
That was when I noticed something interesting.
The more I refined my body, the faster the poison seemed to lose its effect.
At first, even a small dose was enough to make me sweat, tremble, and feel my muscles tighten. But after several rounds of Skin Refinement, those effects began disappearing faster and faster.
It was almost as if the strengthening of my body was naturally counteracting the poison.
I suspected it had something to do with the opposing qualities of Yin and Yang.
The poison weakening and suppressing my body, while body tempering strengthened its vitality and physical foundation.
It was only a theory, but the results were difficult to ignore.
So on the third day, I had Aiko increase the potency.
She and Daichi had both looked at me like I'd finally lost my mind, but after I demonstrated how quickly the original dosage was becoming ineffective, Aiko eventually agreed.
The stronger mixture hit harder for a while then my body adapted again.
Since then, we've been gradually increasing the dosage whenever the previous one stopped producing a meaningful reaction.
It wasn't exactly comfortable, but it had given me something I hadn't expected.
Body tempering wasn't merely strengthening my body, tt was slowly making me harder to poison while boosting my vitality.
And that was an ability worth developing.
Today's dose was stronger than usual. My tongue had gone slightly numb halfway through the meal, and my heartbeat was still a little irregular.
I finished the last bite with a grimace and wiped my mouth with the back of my sleeve. The poison was already losing its effect, but I could still feel the strain it placed on my body.
I sat by the window of my upstairs recovery room in the Lotus Store, breathing slowly as my body worked through the lingering effects.
That was when Hina stepped inside.
"I'm heading back to the Capital," she said. "It's time I reported back to the Pavilion."
I nodded. "They've missed you, no doubt."
She didn't respond right away. Instead, her eyes shifting toward Aiko, who was casually organizing medicinal bundles across the room. "Aiko," she said, "could you excuse us for a moment?"
Aiko looked up. "Sure thing," she said with a small smile. "I'll go prep the a more potent dose, just in case this one looses its effect."
Once she slipped out and closed the door behind her, Hina turned her full attention to me. She didn't sit right away. Instead, she pulled out a scroll and placed it carefully on the table between us.
She unscrolled it, and I noticed its paper was worn, ink still fresh with handwritten updates from someone who took recordkeeping as seriously as life itself.
"I intend to give you a full rundown," she said. "Of everything. The last four years. What you missed."
I raised an eyebrow and waved a hand dismissively. "I trust you, Hina. You didn't need to—"
"It's not about trust," she cut in gently but with a firm tone. "It's about accountability. You built this. Even if you weren't here."
That stopped me as the words settled. I couldn't argue with her on that.
I leaned forward and glanced down at the scroll.
"Alright," I said, exhaling slowly. "Let's see what I missed."
Hina walked over and sat down as I skimmed through the first few lines. Though "skimmed" might be generous. My eyes were already tripping over the sheer volume of figures.
The scroll wasn't just filled with a list of numbers how does she expect me to process all this?
This was a case of seeing and recognizing but not understanding a single thing.
"Let's start with the obvious," she said, tapping the top of the scroll. "The Lotus Store, Main Branch. This building you're in now. Five years ago, it was doing 2.3 million ryo weekly in revenue. Profits sitting comfortably at 1.5 million."
She turned a page and continued. "Today? Weekly revenue averages at 11.8 million ryo, net profits consistently just under 8.4 million."
My eyebrows climbed of their own accord. The numbers were staggering, but considering the range of services I offered and the loyalty they had built among our customers, perhaps it wasn't entirely surprising.
I was already running the figures through my head, comparing our previous earnings with the current revenue, calculating the growth rate and mentally breaking down which sectors were contributing the most.
I may not have been around but if they ran things according to my last direction…
"Expansion, increased demand, and a full turn into the agricultural sector did that?" I asked to confirm.
She nodded. "And the silk. Don't underestimate the appeal of handcrafted Lotusweave Silk, infused with your Warmth Retention Seals to keep it comfortable during winter."
"We partnered with a handful of Konoha minor clans to mass-produce without sacrificing quality."
"Ishida-san handled much of the textile sealing while Hashimaru designed half the wearables. We sell winter cloaks with chakra-activated linings now."
Of course they did.
She pointed farther down. "The West District Branch has grown in logistics. It's the distribution hub for our central shipments and drop-off for the clans. Their weekly revenue sits at 8.9 million, profits around 6.1 million."
Hmm.
She flipped the scroll and tapped a more colorful section marked in red.
"The Northern Branch is technically the newest, though it's been completely revamped. After the war, its location near the border patrol road made it ideal for supplying field personnel. So we shifted its focus toward sealed field kits like rations, antidotes, pre-tagged tools, emergency supplies."
"Weekly figures?"
"About 7.6 million ryo in revenue. Roughly 5.2 million in profit."
My eyebrows rose slightly.
I knew the branch was doing well. I'd helped design several of the products they sold there. What I hadn't realized was how quickly they'd scaled the operation.
"You weren't joking when you said we were thriving."
"That's just retail," she said, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "The Pavilion is where things get interesting."
I looked at her.
She unfurled another scroll from a smaller tube and spread it across the table. The material was thicker than the others, woven with fine silk threads and stamped with the Pavilion's official seal.
"The Pavilion is classified as a private trading entity registered with the Capital. We file quarterly reports, but unless we give them a reason, they leave us alone."
She pointed to several sections of the document.
"Over the past four years, we've expanded from basic fuinjutsu products into three major sectors: agriculture, textiles, and preservation."
"Preservation was always one of our strongest products." I remarked.
"Not like this."
She tapped another figure. "Grain vaults protected by anti-pest seals. Storage containers using your Preservation Seals. Cooling tags that keep milk and other perishables fresh for nearly a week. Household versions of the Warmth Retention Seal. We've even started licensing some of the designs."
I stared at her. "So we're making appliances now?"
"We're making whatever people are willing to pay for."
I chuckled slightly as she continued down the scroll.
"The Pavilion operations currently generate around forty-two million ryo in revenue each week. Net profit averages about twenty million."
I did the calculation automatically.
That was roughly eighty million ryo in monthly profit.
I leaned back slowly.
The number wasn't unbelievable. I'd known the seals were profitable, and agriculture alone had grown far beyond what I'd originally expected.
What surprised me was the scale.
At some point during the years I'd spent buried in training, the Lotus Pavilion had stopped being a successful business and become a proper commercial organization.
"We have partnerships with daimyo-managed estates, several families throughout Fire capital, and standing contracts with border patrol units for sealed grain kits and emergency supplies."
I rubbed my chin.
"Twenty million a week…"
Hina nodded.
"And that's before we account for the branches."
I stared at the scroll again.
Apparently, while I had been busy trying to become stronger, everything I had set up had been busy making me rich.
I leaned back in my chair, my mind spinning. "That's..."
"Big?" she offered with a giggle.
"Terrifying."
She chuckled lightly. "And you haven't touched a single ryo of the profits in four years."
"I didn't need to," I muttered. "The Lotus Store already covered my expenses. My salary as the owner, along with the benefits that came with the position, was more than enough."
Hina gave me a look. "You've basically been living off your own company while letting the profits accumulate."
"When you put it that way, you miss one crucial part. My company wouldn't exist if I didn't think of it."
"..."
I shrugged. "Do you think it was easy thinking this up? I've got to pay myself for that."
She raised an eyebrow but knew better than to argue.
"Well, your personal accounts reflect that. Your share of the business profits has been kept separate. You currently have 427 million ryo sitting in a sealed vault account in the Capital. Not counting physical assets."
I nearly choked. "Four-hundred what?"
I doubt if I've ever owned that much money in my life…two lives combined. And that's considering the fact that I was doing nothing…
Damn.
She opened a smaller noeebook and flipped to a page. "Four stores in Konoha alone and one Pavilion in the capital. You own controlling shares in all."
"Every time we reinvested into new seal tags, farmland, or silk mills, I made sure a portion of the profit was allocated to you. Your money has just been growing quietly. Honestly, we didn't want to touch it. It felt like—"
"Blood money?" I asked, my voice low.
She looked up, surprised. "No. Sacred."
Oh? That word landed heavier than it should.
I was silent for a long time, scanning over the numbers.
"We also own farmland now?" I asked eventually.
"Six parcels. Three of them are about two square kilometers each near the northern rice valleys, one is a one-square-kilometer experimental greenhouse near the Pavilion, and the other two are about two square kilometers each. We rotate those for seasonal crops."
"Eleven square kilometers of farmland…" I stared at her. "And we've only been in agriculture for three years?"
Hina nodded.
I leaned back a bit, slowly processing that. Somehow, while I'd been busy with shinobi life, the Lotus Trading company had gone from a small business to something I barely recognized anymore.
I rubbed my forehead and sighed.
"Alright. I think I've officially been neglecting my own company."
Aiko snorted.
I ignored her and looked back at the scroll.
"And the silk?"
She smirked. "Third largest. And climbing."
I leaned back a bit and crossed my arms. "You really didn't need me, huh?"
Hina's gaze softened, but her answer was instant. "We did. We just couldn't afford to fall apart waiting."
A small smile crept onto my face.
I couldn't deny it, I was impressed.
The Lotus Trading Company had grown far beyond what I'd expected to see after leaving it in her hands for so long.
Maybe I'd underestimated her business acumen.
A small smile crept onto my face. "Guess I made the right person in charge."
I straightened and met her eyes. "Is it all stable? Nothing festering beneath the books?"
She gave a slight shrug. "One or two things I'm still investigating. There's a merchant in the Pavilion who might be laundering through our textile arm, but nothing concrete yet. Ishida-san has been handling the surveillance on this."
I nodded. "Let me know if you need backup."
Her expression flickered, part amusement, part caution. "You sure you're ready to dive back in?"
I glanced at the scrolls again. Then out the window.
"Yeah," I said. "Let's see what kind of empire I really built."
Hina gave me a small, satisfied smile. "About time."
I frowned. "Wait. Does that mean I'm expected to start meeting merchants and attending meetings every day?"
She chuckled. "No. You've been absent for nearly five years. I think we can survive a little longer without you suddenly becoming a social butterfly."
I deadpanned at her.
She smiled. "Besides, you getting stronger benefits us too. The stronger you become, the harder it is for anyone from either the civilian or shinobi sector interfering with what we've built."
I couldn't help but smile at that. "Then I suppose I can keep doing what I do best."
Hina raised an eyebrow. "And what exactly is that?"
I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms behind my head. "Poisoning myself in peace."
Hina huffed, unimpressed. "That's what you took away from all that?"
I grinned. "Of course not. I'm also proud of you."
She rolled her eyes, but I caught the faintest curl of a smile as she turned toward the door.
"I'll be gone for a while. You've got the staff, the records, and the best poison handlers we know. Try not to die."
"No promises," I called after her.
…
A/N: Don't read much meaning to this. I'm not a business student so I just wrote what I felt made sense to let you all know that Murakami is rich and can afford to not be a shinobi.
Remember that most Shinobi who aren't affiliated to villages take the head of an S-rank nin being 100 million Ryo and above. So while I would've loved to make him a billionaire, I changed my mind and made him a Multimillionaire.
Basically, he can place a bounty on any four S-rank nin or even hire or buy them depending on the settings.
Perhaps by the time the 2nd Shinobi war kicks off, he'll be a billionaire.
Note that he's selling convenience in a war era, so while it's cheap and all, it's something people will always come back to.
This way, he has a steady stream of income and can comfortably and confidently reject any Shinobi mission he feels is dangerous or useless to him.
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Like it? Read up to chapter 60 on [email protected]/This_Young_Lord